Thomas Underdown, also spelled Underdowne ('' fl.'' 1566 - 1577), was a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

. He translated the '' Æthiopian History'' of Heliodorus in 1569, and the ''

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'' of

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(1577). The ''Æthiopian History'' has been called "the ancestor in a direct line of the Novel of Adventure," and praised for anticipating every artifice of the historical novel. Underdown was an advocate for literature as a moral instrument, saying that the ''Æthiopian History'' was superior as an action story because people are punished for their misdeeds. By contrast, chivalric

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

permitted pointless murder and "unlawful lust." The first (1569) edition of Underdown's translation was dedicated to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. The book went on to exercise a widespread influence on Elizabethan drama and prose romance. In 1587, the year of the 2nd or 3rd edition,

anti-theatrical Antitheatricality is any form of opposition or hostility to theater. Such opposition is as old as theater itself, suggesting a deep-seated ambivalence in human nature about the dramatic arts. Jonas Barish's 1981 book, ''The Antitheatrical Prejudice ...

propagandist

Stephen Gosson Stephen Gosson (April 1554 – 13 February 1624) was an English satirist. Biography Gosson was baptized at St George's church, Canterbury, on 17 April 1554. He entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1572, and on leaving the university in 1576 h ...

remarked that Underdown's book had "beene thoroughly ransackt, to furnish the Playehouses in London." Among the early works markedly influenced by the translation is Robert Greene's ''Pandosto'' (1588), a major source for Shakespeare's ''

Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

'', and Phillip Sidney's ''Arcadia'' (1581–86). So strong was the influence of Underdown's translation on Sidney that 16th century commentator Marechel referred to Sidney as the "Heliodore d'Angleterre." According to

Moses Hadas Moses Hadas (June 25, 1900, Atlanta, Georgia – August 17, 1966) was an American teacher, a classical scholar, and a translator of numerous works from Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and German. Life Raised in Atlanta in a Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Je ...

, in the introduction to his translation of the ''Aethiopica'', "in construction and a hundred details Sidney patiently follows Heliodorus, and the ''Arcadia'' was the principle model for Sidney's successors."Cited in Jonni Lea Dunn, ibid, 11 Although the book's influence on Shakespeare is more diffuse, elements of Underdown's translation can be traced in a number of plays, prominent among them ''

Cymbeline ''Cymbeline'' , also known as ''The Tragedie of Cymbeline'' or ''Cymbeline, King of Britain'', is a play by William Shakespeare set in Ancient Britain () and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerning the early Celti ...

''.

References

External links

* * An 1895 edition of Underdowne's translation of the ''Æthiopian History'' (1587 version), with introduction by Charles Whibley, is availabl
online.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Underdown, Thomas 1587 deaths Greek–English translators Latin–English translators 16th-century translators 16th-century English writers 1566 births